blogging

I subscribe to a weekly newsletter from the million dollar coach, Alan Weiss. Every Monday he sends me a little thought-provoking message to start my week. This week's "Focus Point" goes like this:

There is a marketing difference between instigation and investigation. You should use "outreach" alternatives such as blogs and newsletters and speeches to instigate people to think differently, react to your intellectual property, and exhibit your thought leadership. Then they may be prompted to investigate your background, your depth and breadth, and that's what a web site is best at—displaying credibility. You don't want an overly promotional web site or a low key blog.

You can subscribe to Alan Weiss's newsletters at Summit Group Consulting.

I'm currently reading The New Community Rules: Marketing on the social Web by Tamar Weinberg. She's got a great list of techniques and tactics for composing blog posts. Here's the summary of her advice:

• Use visual elements to capture attention.
• Keep it clean and to the point.
• Link to appropriate sources.
• Write powerful headlines.
• Provide reader-friendly lists.
• Write informative how-to articles.
• Use storytelling to your advantage.
• Use interviews to encourage engagement credibility.
• Write reviews of relevant products or services.
• Use regular features to build a following.
• Listen to your readers.
• Don't abandon your readers.

Check out Tamar Weinberg's personal site for more on blogging and the social web and her book site for reviews and links to media coverage of The New Community Rules.